Every few months I like to purge our accumulated plastics and check their codes. Anything with a 1, 3, 6 or 7 automatically gets tossed. They are the most notoriously dangerous plastics. Household plastics should have a little triangle on the bottom with their designated recycling code inside the triangle. After a purging I like to treat Riley or myself with a new stainless steel water bottle. http://www.plasticfreebottles.com/stainless-steel-bottles.php/Foogo-Thermos/stainless-steel-insulated-sippy-cup
I use the chart here to determine what gets recycled. www.plasticfreebottles.com/pdf/Understanding-Plastic-Codes.pdf
Friday, January 27, 2012
Thursday, January 26, 2012
5 Reasons To Make Cloth Wipes and Tutorial
Five Reasons To Make Cloth Wipes
1. It's a great way to re-purpose flannel receiving blankets
2. It's a simple project for practicing basic sewing skills
3. Cloth wipes with plain water are gentle on delicate bottoms
4. They work easily with cloth diapering and reduce trash
5. They're free
I've been using them only a few hours and I love them! They are great for cleaning messes and I pre-soaked them in a solution of water, coconut oil, gentle baby shampoo and a drop of tea tree oil.
Here's how I made them:
My dog got to a really cute receiving blanket.
He looks a little guilty, huh? He is lucky he is such a sweetheart!
Step 1: Start by cutting up the blanket into 4x8" strips. Fold them over inside-out. To save time, work it like an assembly line, doing one step at a time to all your wipes.
Step 2: Pin together and leaving a 1/4" seam allowance and using a small straight stitch on your machine, sew around the edges of the wipe. Be sure to leave an 1-2" gap so you can turn it right-side out. You can snip the corners to make them sharper when you turn them if you like.
Step 3: Turn your square inside out. You can poke the corners out with a pencil. Pin your gap together for closing in the next step.
Step 4: Use a zigzag stich around the edges to close everything up. Note: some corners might be a little bulky. Lift your sewing foot a bit when going around them.
One small receiving blanket yielded about 16 4x4" wipes. We mixed up a wipes solutions (you could also use plain water) and added it to the wipes in the container.
1. It's a great way to re-purpose flannel receiving blankets
2. It's a simple project for practicing basic sewing skills
3. Cloth wipes with plain water are gentle on delicate bottoms
4. They work easily with cloth diapering and reduce trash
5. They're free
I've been using them only a few hours and I love them! They are great for cleaning messes and I pre-soaked them in a solution of water, coconut oil, gentle baby shampoo and a drop of tea tree oil.
Here's how I made them:
My dog got to a really cute receiving blanket.
He looks a little guilty, huh? He is lucky he is such a sweetheart!
Step 1: Start by cutting up the blanket into 4x8" strips. Fold them over inside-out. To save time, work it like an assembly line, doing one step at a time to all your wipes.
Step 2: Pin together and leaving a 1/4" seam allowance and using a small straight stitch on your machine, sew around the edges of the wipe. Be sure to leave an 1-2" gap so you can turn it right-side out. You can snip the corners to make them sharper when you turn them if you like.
Step 3: Turn your square inside out. You can poke the corners out with a pencil. Pin your gap together for closing in the next step.
Step 4: Use a zigzag stich around the edges to close everything up. Note: some corners might be a little bulky. Lift your sewing foot a bit when going around them.
One small receiving blanket yielded about 16 4x4" wipes. We mixed up a wipes solutions (you could also use plain water) and added it to the wipes in the container.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
DIY Baby Leggings
Baby leggings are great to keep your Little One warm but at around $12 a pair, they are so expensive. I've been using them almost every day. I pull them down around Ryann's foot to keep her ankles warm where her pants gap and to keep those slippery little socks on. I purchased a pair of women's knee-high socks for $1.50 and got started.
Step 1: Make three cuts on each sock. One right above the heel, one right below the heel and one above the toe. Throw away the heel and toe parts.
Step 2: Take your smaller section (that was the body of the foot) and fold it around itself so the cut edges are lined up together and the pattern is on the outside.
Step 3: Place your folded tube around the bottom of the knee-high and line up all three cut edges. Fold it inside itself leaving a 1" cuff and pin together.
Step 4: Hand sew (backstitch) around. One I finished sewing, I trimmed around the inside.
Step 5: Try them on baby!
Step 1: Make three cuts on each sock. One right above the heel, one right below the heel and one above the toe. Throw away the heel and toe parts.
Step 2: Take your smaller section (that was the body of the foot) and fold it around itself so the cut edges are lined up together and the pattern is on the outside.
Step 3: Place your folded tube around the bottom of the knee-high and line up all three cut edges. Fold it inside itself leaving a 1" cuff and pin together.
Step 4: Hand sew (backstitch) around. One I finished sewing, I trimmed around the inside.
Step 5: Try them on baby!
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Freezer Mushrooms
I'm working on reducing our BPA exposure which means eliminating canned foods from our diet. I love adding mushrooms to my cooking and I used to use a small can in soups and sauces. I purchased two containers of fresh mushrooms at the store. After washing, I sauteed them in butter and garlic. Once they cooled I separated them into freezer bags. One container of mushrooms yeilds one cup to freeze. Now I can just pop them into whatever I'm cooking and not worry!
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